Chemistry
by inskuuh
Summary: Five people gather together for a scientific research project. What happens when two people from that group have unmistakable chemistry between them but they try to keep it professional? Not difficult to guess that they won't succeed. Slow-burn (because I'm incapable of writing anything else) and maybe a little angsty at times. Nicky is also going to appear a lot!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Hello again! Here it is, the first chapter of the new story. I apologize in advance, the chapter is a bit short and it focuses mostly on just getting things rolling. I promise there will be more interaction in future chapters.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_Piper Chapman,_

_Because of your area of expertise, you've been requested to take part in a research project concerning plastic. The idea of this research is to engineer a plastic-eating enzyme but also other ideas and suggestions concerning the subject are welcome. The project will be done in a group of four (not counting different specialists who may consult at times)._

_The research will take place at Stanford University and has been estimated to last at least 3 months. National Science Foundation has funded this project and you will be paid an hourly rate, so you'll also be able to continue your current job if you have one. (Keep in mind that the project will need your contribution, so the minimum hours working __**together **__at the university__ will be 12 hours per week.) If the research will turn out successful, you'll be paid accordingly._

_The project will start on April 1, 2020, at 1 p.m. at Das Lab, Stanford University._ _In case you're interested in taking part in this project, please confirm your participation to this e-mail_ _by February 29, 2020. If you haven't been in contact by then it will be considered as declination. Also, if you have any further questions, please contact the project manager Nicole Nichols (this e-mail)._

_Das Lab address: 279 Campus Drive Stanford, CA 94305_

_Stanford University, The Department of Biochemistry_

_Best regards,_

_Nicole Nichols_

* * *

Piper stared at the email dumbstruck. She was 27 years old, had gotten a Master's degree in bioengineering a couple of years ago and was now and working toward Ph.D. at UCSF. She was also more than a little surprised that she had been requested to take part in something that could turn out to be pretty big.

The project manager or whoever it was who wanted Piper to be a part of this project must have read her master's thesis about how would engineering enzymes that help destroy harmful materials work in theory. Her professor had been quite proud of it.

Stanford was only about half an hour away from UCSF and because the project required only 15 hours per week working at Stanford, it shouldn't interfere with her classes and taking part in this project would definitely be interesting and would give her valuable experience.

Piper didn't think much more about it before she was already confirming her participation.

* * *

On the first day of April Piper was stepping into the Das Lab, excited to meet the people she'll work with. There was only one person in the lab, sitting on one of the desks and doing something on her phone.

The woman looked up when she heard Piper enter and a wide smile spread on her lips. "Hi. Are you also going to work on this plastic project?"

"Hi and yeah, I am", the blonde nodded as she walked toward the other woman and held her hand out. "Piper Chapman, I'm currently studying my Ph.D. in bioengineering."

"I'm Polly Harper", the other woman, Polly, shook her hand. "I'm also studying my Ph.D., but in chemistry."

"Cool", Piper grinned. "It's always interesting to work with someone from another department."

"Agreed. Do you-"

Whatever Polly was going to say was interrupted by three people entering the room. First came in a short brown-haired woman with bright red lipstick who was talking animatedly to the following woman with wild dirty blonde hair. The last person to enter the room was a tall, raven-haired woman who was wearing black rimmed-glasses and scowling like she was about to murder someone- and oh crap... Piper knew that woman.

* * *

"_Is this seat taken?"_

_Piper looked up from her almost empty margarita when she heard that deep, husky voice and was met with the most gorgeous green eyes she had ever seen. She glanced at the empty barstool next to her before smiling. "No, it's not."_

_The mysterious woman had black hair with blue tips and was wearing hot glasses. Piper wasn't even ashamed to admit that she was blatantly checking her out. The other woman sat down and waved at the bartender. "Dry martini. Stirred", she ordered before glancing at Piper's glass. "And another one of what she is having."_

"_That's quite presumptions, wouldn't you say?" Piper asked with raised eyebrows._

"_Well, you seem to be far too interested in me to be leaving now", the other woman gave her a small cocky smirk. "Or am I wrong?"_

_Piper drank the rest of her glass as she examined the other woman. "I guess not. I'm Piper. Piper Chapman"_

"_Alex Vause."_

_The bartender brought their drinks and Alex immediately took a generous sip. "So, Miss Chapman, what brings you here at this uneventful Thursday evening?" the brunette inquired, surprising Piper with the formal name but oddly enough, Piper liked to hear her name said like that. It sent a pleasant jolt through her body and she forgot for a while that she was supposed to answer._

"_Just to unwind. I've had quite a stressful week. What about you?"_

"_Work... kind of. Things didn't go exactly as planned", Alex grunted with a sour face._

_Piper gave a sympathetic hum. "Do they ever?"_

"_No. Usually not", the raven-haired woman agreed before looking at Piper with something between curiosity and hunger. "There wouldn't be a chance of you wanting to join me to my apartment and help me to forget those...mishaps, would there?"_

_The blonde swallowed hard. It wasn't the first time she had received such a blatant suggestion by any means, but this was the first time she wasn't disgusted by it. After a while of pondering her options, Piper took a sip of her margarita. "Why not. I could also use some help at taking the mind off things."_

_Alex grinned somewhat wolfishly. "Excellent."_

_Unsurprisingly, the older woman turned out to be a very skilled lover (Piper came seven__ times!) and the night was something she wouldn't forget for a while, if ever. In the morning Piper had to leave early for a class but she had left her phone number. Alex never called though._

* * *

Piper watched as Alex saw her and recognition flashed in those green eyes before her face settled into even deeper scowl. The blonde felt simultaneously embarrassed that she had left her number when the other woman didn't want to contact her again and a bit sad that the other woman obviously wasn't happy to see her.

Alex had changed from the last time Piper had seen her. The tips of her hair weren't blue anymore and she appeared to be overall tenser than before. She seemed older even though it hadn't been more than a bit over a year when they had last seen.

"Excellent, you two are here already", the wild-haired woman interrupted Piper's thoughts as she walked to the two of them. "Let's start with introductions, shall we?"

There was one bigger table in the lab and they all sat around it.

"Alright, I'll start", the same wild-haired woman began, and Piper suspected that she was the project manager from the way she led the conversation. "I'm Nicole Nichols, but please call me Nicky. I was given the fancy title project manager by this one", Nicky chuckled as she pointed her thumb at Alex who was sitting next to her.

Alex rolled her eyes, but Piper could detect a small smile on her lips.

"So, yeah, Alex here came up with this whole project but I'm taking care of the practical side of things. You'll see me around probably a lot, but I'm not involved any of this nerdy stuff. Oh, and don't let her resting bitch face fool you, she's actually a teddy bear", Nicky winked.

Polly and the other woman whose name Piper didn't know smiled amusedly, but Piper was still too astounded to fully register the joke. Alex, in turn, was glaring at Nicky exasperatedly. "I would love to get into the problems with your allegation but for the sake of these poor people who are witnessing your questionable sense of humor, I'm going to talk about the project", she started, and her voice was just as deep and raspy as Piper remembered. "I'm Alex Vause and I've completed my Ph.D. in biochemistry. Currently, I'm working as a professor here at Stanford University. I chose you three by myself and I was glad to find out that all my first choices were able to join this project. You all are working or studying in a bit different fields because I thought it would be the most useful decision to have a wide range of expertise. I'll let you introduce yourselves before I delve further into the project."

Piper was staring at Alex with curiosity. Alex couldn't be more than a couple of years older than her and to complete her Ph.D. and get a position as a professor at a respected university before the age of 30, Alex must be extremely talented and hard-working.

The blonde was interrupted from her thoughts as the petite brunette started to introduce herself.

"Well, my name is Lorna Morello and I have a Master of Bioinformatics. I'm currently working as a bioinformatics programmer, but I might start studying my Ph.D. soon."

Polly and Piper also introduced themselves and Piper could feel Alex's eyes on her the whole time she talked but refused to look at her and find out what kind of expression she was wearing.

When the introductions had been done, Alex spoke again. "As you know, the idea of this research is to engineer an enzyme that will destroy plastic. We'll plan it out and when it's complete in theory, we'll really start working on it. I'm sure you already have some ideas and questions, but before we fully start the project, I'd like us to establish the days we'll be working here together."

After comparing their schedules and preferences, they came to the result that they'd work three hours on Fridays and four and a half hours on Saturdays and Sundays.

"Now when that's settled, I'd like you to sign these", Nicky announced as she gave them all a contract.

Everyone except Alex read it carefully through and Piper suspected that Alex had been involved in making this contract. The contract covered the salary, the working hours and the acceptable reasons to withdraw from the project. There was also a non-disclosure agreement attached which wasn't unusual in research projects.

After everyone had signed two copies, one for themselves and one for Nicky, Nicky took the ones intended for her and left with the promise to see them again soon.

"Okay, the first question", Piper started, and everyone turned their eyes on her. "We need something to produce this enzyme, right? Are we going to engineer also some kind of bacteria or cell to produce this particular enzyme or is the idea just to generate them always in the lab? Wouldn't it be easier to just outright create a bacterium that destroys plastic?"

Alex's eyes narrowed. "Well, Miss Chapman, bacteria are more complicated to engineer and would take more time. There is also a higher risk of failure since bacteria have quite a high mutation rate and they can obtain some undesirable traits. But yes, it is also important to think about how we will spread these enzymes and we'll think about it when we are at that point of the research."

Something about the tone which Alex used made Piper feel like an idiot, but Alex's words indicated that it was a valid question. The use of her last name brought up some memories and even though Alex wasn't trying to seduce her this time it still sounded as alluring as back when they first met.

Piper nodded her understanding as she studied Alex. Suddenly she was hit with a thought that she was glad that she wasn't studying at Stanford because she might be on some of Alex's classes. Even if they hadn't slept together, it would be hard to focus if Alex would turn up wearing sexy heels, tight pencil skirts, and blouses that revealed a hint of cleavage like she was dressed now.

Alex glared at Piper as she noticed her not so subtly checking her out, but her attention focused quickly on Polly as she started to ask the next question.

They discussed how the project would progress and how everyone was expected to use their areas of expertise to help this research. When Polly asked how Alex had come up with this project, the professor tensed, and her eyes turned cold. "That's personal. All you have to know is that plastic waste is a global problem and I want to do something about it."

Everyone was surprised by the brusque answer but no one questioned it further when they saw Alex staring at them icily. "From this point forward, I'd like to stay away from any personal questions and focus on the project. Other questions?"

No one seemed to have anything to say anymore and Piper wasn't sure if it was only because of Alex's sudden coldness. There was obviously something more and Piper's interest piqued. She wanted to know what made Alex to come up with this project and as she more closely thought about it, she simply wanted to know more about Alex. Even though Alex had never called her, Piper still wanted to form some kind of relationship with the woman who was still mostly an enigma. Be it either a friendship or something more.

"Great. I think we're done for the day then. Miss Chapman here published a couple of years ago a paper about engineering an enzyme that would destroy harmful material. I'll send the link to you later today and I wish everyone would read it by Friday because we're going to use this paper as a basis for our enzyme. Please, think about it from your point of view because it's a bit different with all of us since we're working in different fields."

It took a while for the words to register to Piper but when they did, her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open in surprise. "What? Why? I was writing theoretically! There is no guarantee that it actually works. Isn't there something more reliable to use?"

Alex turned her intense gaze to Piper. "I read your paper and didn't find anything wrong with it. As you said, you were writing in theory but what better time to test it than now? It could work or not work in which case we would do the required changes. But you're our bioengineering expert here, so if you think there's something better to use then feel free to tell us."

"I... uh-" Piper's brain was stuck in the prospect that Alex thought her theory could actually work. She shook her head to clear her thoughts before trying again. "No, there hasn't been published anything about this particular topic at least to my knowledge-"

"That's settled then. Unless you don't think that you're proficient enough?" the professor raised her eyebrows challengingly.

Temper flared in Piper as always when someone doubted her abilities. She raised her chin a bit as she stared Alex defiantly in the eyes. "No, I do _not _think so."

"Excellent", Alex smirked like she had anticipated that kind of reaction. "So, we're all in agreement about this or does someone else something to say?"

Polly and Lorna shook her head as a no as Piper frowned at Alex, realizing that she had been provoked to give an answer Alex was hoping.

When the older woman noticed Piper's frown, she gave the blonde a quick smug grin before starting to look for something from her purse.

The two other occupants of the room were watching curiously this exchange and neither Polly nor Lorna could deny that odd chemistry that Alex and Piper had together.

Alex handed over her business cards that she had dug from her purse to Lorna and Polly with an instruction to contact her if they had any questions. She hesitated for a couple of seconds and looked at Piper calculatingly before giving her one as well.

"For project-related things _only", _Alex warned with a lowered tone. Her expression was something between sternness and amusement, and Piper turned bright red at the insinuation. She was _not_ that desperate, and she had enough self-respect not to throw herself at Alex.

Piper was about to tell Alex just that but opted for a safer choice instead. "What else would I be contacting you for?"

The younger woman couldn't quite suppress the self-satisfied smirk as Alex's narrowed her eyes at her. "See you on Friday, _professor_."

At that Piper followed Polly and Lorna out of the lab leaving Alex staring after her surprised and mildly impressed, not that she'd admit that to anyone. She had been afraid of how Piper would act but so far, she had been professional. It was too early to say if the fact that they had slept together would impact on their working relationship, but Alex was fairly confident they could work professionally together.

* * *

"So, what did you think?" Polly asked Piper as they were walking together at the campus.

"About the project? I think it's interesting. I'm eager to start working on it."

"Yeah me too. And what about Doctor Vause? What's your opinion on her?"

Piper coughed awkwardly. "Uhh, I don't know. Probably highly intelligent that one, if she is already a professor... Could be less of a bitch though."

Polly snorted. "Yeah, she doesn't seem to be planning on making any friends during this project. But... I couldn't help but notice this weird connection between you two", she grinned suggestively.

Piper's eyes widened slightly as her cheeks reddened. "What do you mean?"

"Well... you two were looking at each other a lot when the other one wasn't looking and then when you actually spoke to each other it seemed like you two forgot Lorna and I were also there for a moment. You just kind of went into your own little bubble with your intense gazes and glares and what nots."

"We didn't make any intense eyes", the blonde mumbled.

"Oh, you totally did. I couldn't quite figure out if you hated each other or had hots for each other", Polly grinned.

"What?!" Piper shrieked. "I do not have hots for her!"

"Mmhm", Polly hummed skeptically.

"Yes, she is very, _very_ attractive, I have eyes. But like you said, she obviously wants to keep our relationships professional, so that's what I'm also going to do", the blonde announced, closing the discussion.

Polly glanced amusedly at her new friend but decided to leave the topic at that. She was willing to bet that something would happen between those two during this project. She should talk with Lorna and Nicky, and find out what they were thinking about these two.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! So, what did you think? Was it too nerdy? All kind of reviews are appreciated :) Hopefully I'll be able to update soon. And like I said earlier, this story is probably going to appear at some point also on Archiveofourown with Once Upon A Time characters.**

**\- Iina**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Wow, I didn't expect that this story would be so well received. Thank you for all reviews and positive comments :) Someone asked to write on Alex's pov and I try to write every other chapter mostly on Piper's pov and every other on Alex's pov.  
**

**Here's the second chapter, and I just wanted to remind you th****at the scientific facts might not be correct, so don't take this too seriously! Also, there's a bit angst in this chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

On Friday afternoon Alex was sitting in the lab and grading her students' papers as she waited for the rest of the project group to show up. She couldn't focus, though, as a certain blonde disturbed her thoughts. If things had been different, she would have called the other woman back. She felt a connection with Piper that she hadn't felt with anyone else. But her life had taken a sudden turn after their shared night and calling the woman back had been the furthest thing in her mind.

Things were different now. They were working together, and Miss Chapman was still as attractive as she had been a year ago. But Alex wanted to keep their relationship professional in order to avoid any difficulties that may arise. Also, she wasn't sure if she was emotionally capable of handling a relationship or anything else like that just yet. She decided that the best way to go was to stay away from Piper as much as possible.

"Hi."

Alex looked sharply up from her laptop and saw the current subject of her thoughts walking toward her. Piper was wearing black, tight jeans and a pale blue long sleeve shirt that highlighted her eyes nicely. The older woman had been so deep in thought that she hadn't heard Piper come in. "Good afternoon, Miss Chapman."

Piper raised her eyebrows at the formal greeting before sitting down opposite of Alex. "What are you doing?"

Alex pursed her lips in annoyance. It was going to be hard to stay away if the blonde insisted on initiating a conversation. "Grading papers."

"What subject?"

"Genetic diversity and personalized medicine."

"Sounds interesting. Are they any good?" Piper inquired.

"Certainly a step-up from high schoolers' papers", Alex commented as she willed the other woman to shut up in her mind.

The blonde's mouth dropped open. "You were also a high school teacher? At what point? Just how old exactly are you?"

Alex glared at Piper and before she had a chance to say a word, the blonde raised her hands in surrender. "I know you said no personal questions, but I can't help it. I'm just curious, you don't seem to be much older than me."

"I'm 29 if you must know", Alex revealed and sounded like it was a chore to give this information. "And I was teaching part-time in a high school as I was studying my Ph.D."

"And when did you complete your Ph.D.?" Piper questioned, knowing that she was pushing her luck but couldn't help herself now when she had a chance to talk to Alex.

"Almost two years ago", the professor replied before decided to steel the conversation further away from her. "What about you? At which point of your doctoral studies are you currently?"

The younger woman could see what the older woman was doing and wondered why Alex was so reluctant to share things about herself. Piper, however, didn't want to pressure her too much, so she gladly answered the question. "I'm currently refining my thesis into a dissertation. My supervisor thinks that I'm about a year away from my doctorate."

"What is your thesis about?" Alex asked, now actually a little bit interested.

"Stem cells and using them in tissue engineering."

"Fascinating. Unfortunately, our project has nothing to do with your thesis, but I hope that you'll be able to pick up something useful from this project and can apply it to your dissertation."

"I'm sure I will", Piper smiled widely, and Alex noticed how beautiful she looked when she smiled. That caused her to turn her gaze back to the laptop because this was not staying away.

Before Piper had time to mull over the other woman's sudden disinterest, Nicky burst into the lab grinning widely.

"No", Alex said immediately after taking one look of her friend.

"What? Alex, you don't even know what I'm going to say", Nicky whined as Piper watched the exchange curiously.

"I know you well enough to know that that look means you have an idea. A bad one, usually."

"Look, hear this one out. We should have a bonding night!"

"A what now?"

"Bonding night! We'll go out to get some drinks or whatever we want to do. Get to know each other a bit and then working together would be more comfortable", the wild-haired woman explained enthusiastically.

Alex rolled her eyes. "I'm fine thanks. If the rest of you want to do something, be my guest, but I'm not coming."

"Oh, come on! Alex, it's time for you to come out of your shell for a while. Have some fun."

"Nicky", Alex said warningly and there was something in her tone Piper couldn't quite put her finger on.

Nicky's eyes softened. "Okay."

"But it was a good idea, for once", the professor admitted. "The rest of you should go."

Piper looked at Alex with furrowed eyebrows. "Why wouldn't you want to come with us?"

"Because I have more important stuff to do", the older woman growled, wanting this conversation to end. Piper didn't have to know about this particular aspect of her life.

The blonde stared at her perplexed but decided not to press any further, especially as she saw Nicky to subtly shake her head. At that moment Polly and Lorna stepped into the lab and took in the tensed atmosphere.

"Everything alright here?" Lorna asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, don't worry about it", Nicky nodded as she went to give a small kiss on the brunette's cheek.

"Wait? You two know each other?" Polly asked in bewilderment.

"Oh, yeah, we crossed paths a few times as we studied and now she's my girlfriend", Nicky grinned proudly. "But don't worry. Lorna didn't get any special treatment when she was picked to work on this project. If you hadn't noticed, Alex is quite professional."

"Yeah, I think we all got that", Piper quipped as she gave Alex a small smirk.

The professor narrowed her eyes, not knowing if the younger woman had meant that as a joke or as an insult. She busied herself with putting away her laptop as Nicky and the others planned their night out. They decided to go to a nearby bar diner after they were done with the project for today.

Alex truly didn't have any desire to go with them, but the conversation made her think about her life. The last time she had really taken time for herself was the night she had met Piper. She knew she had been overworking herself but couldn't care less. She _had_ to succeed with this project.

She was halted out of her thoughts as Nicky asked once more: "Are you _sure_ you don't want to come?"

"You aren't coming?" Polly threw in surprised.

"No, I'm not", Alex answered with finality. "Are we ready to get into the project or did you have something else, Nicky?"

"Nope", Nicky shook her head and looked at Alex with a soft expression. "Go to save the world, kid."

Everyone else was looking perturbed by the odd sentence but Alex was staring at Nicky with an unreadable expression. Piper swore she could see Alex's eyes water but then the professor blinked, and it was gone.

"You too, Irving Fisher junior", Alex said quietly.

The wild-haired woman gave Alex a sad smile before turned her attention to the other occupants of the room who were watching the odd conversation curiously. "See you later tonight!"

After Nicky left, they delved into the project. Lorna had done a preliminary design of the enzyme with computer software which they studied for a long time.

Polly, unsurprisingly, had focused on the chemical aspect of engineering the enzyme. "The idea of our enzyme is to decompose the plastic back to the original elements, right? And as we know, different plastics are made in different ways, so at least in the beginning, we should probably choose just one kind of plastic we want to focus on."

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing. I think it would be most useful to focus on a polyethylene terephthalate, otherwise known as a PET plastic. It's harmful and there's lots of that particular kind of plastic in nature", Alex said.

"Well, you've been thorough", Polly commented as she wrote something on her notepad.

"I certainly didn't get my Ph.D. by doing things halfway", Alex pointed out. "Piper, how hard do you think it will be to change the enzyme's structure, so it starts decomposing plastic?"

Piper was momentarily shocked by the use of her first name but recovered quickly. "Hard to say. It's going to be a long road of trial and error, for sure. But with you and Polly's knowledge about the chemical aspect and with Lorna's computer skills, I'd say we have a chance to get some kind of plastic-eating enzyme in a few weeks."

* * *

After they were done for the day, Alex stayed to finish off her notes as the others filed out of the lab. She noticed that someone had left their notebook on the table and rolled her eyes. This was sensitive information, they wouldn't want anyone to steal their project, would they? As she stood up to also leave the lab, Nicky came in. "Oh, good, you're still here."

"Yeah, what do you need?"

"I want to talk to you."

"Please don't say you're here to try to coax me into coming to this bonding night of yours", Alex sighed.

"Look, I know this is important to you", Nicky started as she motioned around the lab. "I get it, I really do. And you know that I miss her too."

Alex clenched her jaw as she willed her eyes not to water. "I know what you think, but I _have _to do this. For her. I don't have time to have _fun_."

"She wouldn't want this, Alex. She would want you to be _happy_."

"And I will be, once we succeed in this project."

"Do you know all of those guys in the movies where they're like seeking revenge or something? And they devote pretty much their whole life on that revenge or whatever other cause and then when they are done, they don't know what to do with their lives anymore. You have to keep living your life!"

"I am living my life", the professor snapped. Tears were threatening to fall on her cheeks as she glared at the other woman. "I'm helping people through my work! She would be proud of me."

"I know she would. Alex, she would be proud of you no matter what you did. But that doesn't mean you can't take time for yourself."

Alex exhaled shakily. "This conversation is over."

"Alright", Nicky nodded, knowing not to push her friend too much. "But... Just think what I said, okay?"

"Yeah."

* * *

Piper was walking back toward the lab as she noticed that she had forgotten her notebook. When she got closer, however, she halted when she heard a conversation going on.

"_I know what you think, but I have to do this. For her. I don't have time to have fun."_

Piper frowned as she recognized Alex's voice, and were those tears in her voice that she heard? Piper also recognized Nicky's voice and stayed outside of the lab, so she wouldn't interrupt their conversation.

She felt bad about eavesdropping as she realized that they were talking about something serious. She gathered that Alex, and also Nicky, had lost someone important to them. She was just about to leave, not wanting to violate their privacy when she heard the professor to end their discussion.

She had a few seconds, so Piper quietly took a few steps back. When Alex and Nicky stepped out of the lab, Piper was walking toward them, looking like she had just got there.

"Hi", Piper smiled, taking in Alex's closed off expression and Nicky's defeated one. "Did you see my notebook?" she asked, pretending that she hadn't heard anything or didn't notice anything weird between them.

"Yes, I took it", Alex said as she took the notebook from her bag. "You should be more careful. It's delicate information."

Piper took her notebook and smiled. "Yeah, sorry. Won't happen again."

The professor pursed her lips, looking unconvinced but nodded nevertheless. "Sure."

All of them continued in different directions, but each one of them was thinking about the conversation that took place a couple of minutes ago.

* * *

"So, what's Alex's deal?" Polly asked.

Piper, Polly, Nicky, and Lorna were sitting in one of the booths at the diner. Alex had kept her word and hadn't come but the four of them had had a great time getting to know each other.

Nicky took a sip of her beer before answering. "Alex is... This project is very important to her. And she has never been the most outgoing person. I know she seems maybe a bit... cold, but it's just a coping mechanism of sorts. Don't take it personally."

"Yeah, no, I don't. It just seems like she is... detaching herself emotionally. Only time I've seen her show some kind of emotion is when she is glaring at Piper."

"She's just protecting her feelings", Nicky nodded before turned to grin at Piper. "But you're right, Piper has managed to get several reactions out of her in a couple of hours when others haven't managed to get anything in months."

Piper blushed at the sudden attention and coughed awkwardly. "But it's only because I-" she cut herself off as she thought about what she should say. She knew that Alex probably didn't want the others to know about their shared night, and she wasn't sure if she wanted them to know either. "Because I annoy her."

"Whatever you say", Nicky smirked. "But let me tell you, there's something different about her when she is around you."

"Or then you're all delusional", Piper rolled her eyes as she blushed.

"What was that weird thing between you two today?" Lorna asked Nicky curiously. "When you called her kid and she called you Irving Fisher junior?"

"Oh... That's uh kind of our thing. Someone important to us used to call us those and it stuck", Nicky shrugged like it wasn't a big deal, but Piper could see it was.

She filed away this little tidbit of information for later as she wondered if this was the same person that they had lost. And quite recently at that if the amount of pain in Alex's voice had been anything to judge by.

"But I want to go back to Piper and Alex for a while. What do _you_ think about her?" the wild-haired woman grinned.

"I don't really know her", Piper shrugged. "Yes, she is attractive. And yes, I'd like to get to know her. But if she wants to keep things professional, then I'm going to respect that." Or at least I try to, she added in her head.

"Even though she's acting like she wants to keep your relationship professional, it doesn't necessarily mean she actually _wants_ to do it. Just saying."

Piper tried not to get her hopes up and kept her expression neutral. "Well, if that's the case, she can come to me."

Nicky groaned. "No, she is trying to push you away. So, _you_ have to push back. Toward her."

"Oh, yeah, great idea. Just push back and annoy her until she gets tired of it and throws me out of the project", the blonde huffed.

"She can't actually do that. Annoying group members wasn't one of the acceptable reasons to withdrawn, so I'm guessing she can't throw you out because of that either", Polly interjected helpfully.

"Alright Cupidos, I think we're done with this conversation. I'm going to get another drink, does anyone else want anything?"

Piper memorized what everyone wanted before making her way toward the bar. She was just waiting for the drinks when she heard an unmistakable voice.

"Dry martini. Stirred."

Piper whipped her head to look at the woman next to her. "Alex! You decided to come after all!"

"For the sake of togetherness and working together as well as possible", Alex said grumpily, almost like she wanted to be anywhere else.

Piper noticed that Alex had changed out of her professor clothes and was now wearing tight, black jeans and burgundy colored, casual but stylish blouse. She didn't know what had caused Alex's change of heart but for some reason, she was happy that Alex was here.

"Well, for what it's worth, I'm glad you came."

Alex studied the younger woman. She was normally good at reading people, but she just couldn't figure out Piper. What was her angle?

"So... this brings up some memories, doesn't it?", Piper asked awkwardly. She wanted a chance to talk with Alex about what happened between them, and this seemed like a good time.

The professor raised one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. "Indeed."

"Do you think we should... uh, talk about it?"

"No, not really."

Piper frowned. "Okay... well can I just ask-"

"What part of 'no, we should not talk about it' you don't understand?" Alex asked irritatedly.

"I'm just trying to have a mature conversation about this!" Piper exclaimed, her temper flaring.

"Well, stop trying. I don't want to have this conversation."

"Oh my god. You're really hard to get along with", the blonde huffed.

"Me?! You are the one who doesn't stop bothering me-" Alex started incredulously before she was interrupted. "Oh, man. I wish I had popcorn."

Alex and Piper turned to look at Nicky who was leaning against the bar counter and smirking at them.

"Nicky", the raven-haired woman greeted with narrowed eyes. "Where did you come from?"

"I just came to check what took so long with the drinks. Imagine my surprise when I found you two here bickering like an old married couple", Nicky grinned. "Nice to see that you changed your mind, by the way."

"We didn't bicker", Alex mumbled at the same time as Piper stated that they were nothing like a married couple.

Nicky nodded knowingly. "Sorry, my bad. I found you two here having a very sophisticated debate about which one of you is harder to get along with. That sounded really interesting exchange though... There seems to be some unresolved _tension_ between you two."

Both women blushed furiously and was glaring at Nicky with almost identical looks.

"But not to worry", Nicky beamed as she took the drinks from the counter. "This is exactly what the bonding night was about. To get rid of the tension, it's up to you which way you want to do it", she winked at them suggestively before made her way back to their booth.

They stared after her for a while before Piper cleared her throat. "There isn't any tension between us to get rid of, right?"

"Definitely not", Alex agreed. "Nicky is just seeing things", she added before took her drink and followed Nicky.

* * *

**Hehe... no tension at all. **

**Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you thought :) Oh, and points for anyone who guesses why the project is so important to Alex!**

**\- Iina**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Sorry, I couldn't update the story last week. It has been kind of hectic with all schools closing and I've tried to get used to it all. Hopefully everyone is safe and taking care of yourselves and those close to you! :)  
**

**Most of you guessed right why the project is so important to Alex, and you'll learn about it more in this chapter. I know you want Alex to open up and let loose, but it's going to take a bit more time and coaxing.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_"But not to worry", Nicky beamed as she took the drinks from the counter. "This is exactly what the bonding night was about. To get rid of the tension, it's up to you which way you want to do it", she winked at them suggestively before made her way back to their booth._

_They stared after her for a while before Piper cleared her throat. "There isn't any tension between us to get rid of, right?"_

_"Definitely not", Alex agreed. "Nicky is just seeing things", she added before took her drink and followed Nicky._

Piper followed the raven-haired woman and reached the booth just in time to hear the others greeting Alex cheerfully, and Alex telling them not to expect anything in the future gatherings.

The blonde grinned amusedly as she sat down opposite of Alex because the professor was almost adorable when she was grumpy. Not that she would ever tell that to anyone, especially Alex.

The evening went on and Alex had also loosened up a bit. She was even smiling at some of the jokes and funny stories the others were telling. She still didn't participate much though, unless asked a direct question. Everyone was staying away from personal questions if talking with Alex which she seemed really relieved about.

That just made Piper more curious about the professor and she found herself wishing that Alex would trust her enough at some point, so she could open up a little. Piper spent most of the night studying the older woman. She hoped that she was being discreet, and since Alex hadn't glared at her or otherwise expressed that she had noticed Piper's examination, Piper assumed that she had succeeded.

What she didn't know was that Alex had felt Piper's eyes on her the whole time and was trying very hard not to scowl or snap at the blonde. But the professor had decided to ignore the blonde as much as possible to prove Nicky that there was absolutely not _any_ kind of chemistry between them.

"Jesus Christ, woman, how many drinks do you have to consume in order to become even a little tipsy?" Piper exclaimed suddenly as she realized that Alex was the only one of the group who didn't seem to be tipsy at all even though she drank just as much as the rest of them.

Alex turned her intense eyes at the blonde and Piper was starting to regret that she had opened her mouth. "I can handle my liquor, unlike the rest of you, apparently. And someone has to be the responsible adult here."

"Oh, come on, Vausey. It's only because you're so hecking tall", Nicky grinned as she threw her arm around Alex's shoulders. "But I'm really glad that you came here to be the responsible adult, so the rest of us can drink way too much."

The professor rolled her eyes at the tipsily chuckling group in the booth but smiled a bit. She had to admit that she was having fun. "I just hope that you have clear minds again tomorrow when it's time to work on our project."

Everyone groaned at the thought of using their brains, but Alex just smirked at them. Despite their current behavior, she knew that these women were in fact sensible and wouldn't sabotage the project.

They talked about random things for a while before deciding that it was time to call it a night. After a bit of asking where everyone was headed, Piper, Polly, and Alex decided to share a cab since they were going in the same direction.

Alex listened as Polly and Piper talked animatedly about Polly's soap business until they reached Polly's destination and it was just Alex and Piper. That didn't stop the slightly intoxicated blonde and now she was babbling to Alex about some organic coffee that without she couldn't live.

The older woman gave little hums of acknowledgment here and there to cover up that she wasn't listening at all. She was thinking about her recent life choices and generally about her life. Should she not have thrown herself at work, so she didn't have time to fully process her mother's death? Alex shook her head to get rid of those thoughts. She would focus on it after she was done with the project, but now she needed a clear head if she wanted the project to succeed.

As the cab stopped again Alex looked up to see Piper starting to climb out of the car. She looked at Piper perplexed as the other woman turned to face her and kept her hand up.

"High five?" the blonde suggested grinning.

The professor looked at Piper incredulously before realizing that she was probably drunker than originally thought. "Good night, Piper", Alex simply said, completely ignoring the still raised hand.

The blonde didn't seem disheartened by Alex's refusal to give her high five and shrugged. "Alright then. Good night, professor."

_Idiot, _Alex thought with an eye roll as Piper got out of the cab. She tried really hard to convince herself that she hadn't meant that as a term of endearment.

* * *

Piper and Polly were walking toward the lab the next day when they saw Lorna leaning against the wall and peeking around the corner.

"Hey, you", Piper greeted. "What are you doing?"

Lorna turned to look at them relieved. "Thank god you're here. There is some weird man in front of the lab, and he creeped me out, so I decided to wait for the rest of you."

Polly and Piper also peeked around the corner and indeed there was a man standing next to the lab door. He looked like he was in his mid-fifties, had greasy hair and a creepy looking mustache. Piper grimaced but took a step toward him, they couldn't just hide around the corner the whole day, could they?

"Hello, sir. Can I help you with something?"

The man turned to look at Piper and then Polly and Lorna who were following the blonde cautiously. "Yes, actually", the man smirked as he let his eyes wander between the three women. "I'm looking for Alex Vause. I was told I'd found her here at this time."

Piper frowned because the man's breath smelled like alcohol and for some reason, she didn't want this man anywhere close to Alex. "Uhh, well, she is probably coming soon. Do you want to wait for her, or should we give her a message?"

"I'll wait", the man nodded as he leaned against the door.

The three women looked at each other as they wondered what they should do now. Luckily, they soon heard a telltale click of Alex's heels coming toward them, so they didn't need to think for long.

When the professor came into the view, Piper noticed how the man's eyes took in Alex's body. She kind of wanted to punch him in the face.

"What's going on here?" Alex demanded as she took in the people gathered outside of the lab.

"Please tell me that you're not Alex Vause", the man said as a greeting, doing nothing to explain the situation.

"I am, why?" the professor asked with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, damn. You're really hot and I was hoping we could get some drinks later, but since you're my daughter, it wouldn't probably be appropriate", the man looked at Alex's body longingly.

Piper, Polly and Lorna's mouths dropped open from shock because _who_ says that?! And Alex obviously didn't know this man, _her father_, so this was their first meeting. He certainly didn't give a great first impression and now Piper _really_ wanted to punch him in the face.

Alex's expression was a mix of disgust, horror, shock, and anger before it settled to resemble something like a neutral scowl. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah", the man grinned and looked like he thought that he would be welcomed with open arms. "I'm your father, and when I heard about your mother-"

He was interrupted by a fist colliding with his jaw. Alex had taken a couple of quick steps toward him and punched her with a surprising amount of force. It happened so fast that no one had time to react before Alex's excuse of a father was laying on the floor and holding his jaw. "What was that for?!"

"You've done a fabulous job of staying out of my life for 29 years. I have no desire to change that now. If you ever try to contact me or someone close to me, I will destroy you", Alex threatened with such a terrifying voice that the hairs on the back of Piper's neck stood up.

Everyone was still staring at Alex open-mouthed, but the professor ignored them all and swiped the keycard in front of the reader to get into the lab. The three other women followed her into the lab and left the cursing man into the hallway to lift himself up.

There was an awkward silence in the lab as Alex tried to collect herself with a clenched jaw and the others trying to gauge how she was feeling.

"So..." Piper started stiffly, not knowing how to continue to sentence but wanting to fill the silence.

"I certainly wish you realize that _this_ falls into the personal category and I do _not_ want to talk about it", Alex almost growled as she looked at Piper first and then also glaring at the two other women just in case they didn't understand.

"Yeah, sure, we understand that", Piper nodded, hoping to ease the tension a bit. "Can I at least look at your hand? That was a mean punch you threw back there."

Alex glared at her and unsurprisingly, didn't let the blonde examine her hand but scrutinized it herself. Piper could see that it was a bit swollen and already starting to bruise but Alex just walked to the freezer and took some frozen bag before wrapping a towel around it pressing it against her knuckles. "I'm fine. Let's get into the project."

Everyone looked at Alex skeptically, but no one dared to say anything concerning the incident.

Alex started talking about the enzyme structure as the others started to retrieve their notepads. Lorna also opened the preliminary design she had done previously in case they'd need it at some point.

Piper couldn't focus very well though, as her mind kept going back to the short conversation between Alex and her father. The man had mentioned that he had heard something about Alex's mother and Piper wondered in dread if she was the person Alex had lost.

"Miss Chapman!"

Piper jolted out of her thoughts and looked guiltily at Alex who was once again glaring at her. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Glad to see you finally decided to grace us with your presence", the professor snarked. "I said that we should probably gradually start testing the enzyme. Like you said, it could take weeks, and I'd like to get that started."

"Okay?"

The older woman let out an annoyed sigh. "Well, since this is kind of your area, I'm expecting you to take the charge."

"What? Me?!" Piper shrieked.

"Obviously you, you moron", Alex snapped. "We need you to tell us what you need. An enzyme? What kind of enzyme? What about equipment?"

Polly and Lorna were watching the exchange half amusedly and half concerned. The blonde, however, wasn't fazed by Alex's harsh tone partly because she knew that Alex's emotions were running high at the moment, but also because Alex trusted her to lead this part of the project.

Logically, Piper knew that of course, she should be in charge because this was her area of expertise, but she couldn't quite wrap her mind around the fact that Alex wanted _her_ to lead. After the first meeting and recognizing Alex, Piper had done some research about the older woman and had discovered that the woman was literally a genius. She had published dozens of insightful and brilliant papers, and she was also listed as one of the most promising young scientists.

"Uh, Piper? You still here?" It was Polly this time who interrupted the blonde's musings.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry", Piper grinned at them sheepishly. "Yes, I do need an enzyme, but I don't know what kind since nothing like this has been done before. I was thinking we should start from something simple and first just separate amylase from saliva. Then we go from there once we know more", she explained before starting to list the equipment needed starting from an electron microscope and ending with a bunch of computational tools that Lorna promised to handle.

Alex wrote a list of what they needed before examining it carefully. "I'll probably be able to acquire most of the equipment that already isn't here by tomorrow but there is a couple of things we need to order. I'll ask Nicky about those, but we should get them about in a week, two tops."

Piper nodded and they discussed a bit more what they would do next before decided to continue tomorrow.

As Polly and Lorna left the lab, Piper lingered intentionally, so she'd have a chance to talk to Alex in private. The older woman glanced at her somewhat curiously but apparently didn't want to talk as she just picked up her things and made her way toward the lab exit.

"Wait", Piper called out quickly, so Alex didn't have a chance to leave.

"Yes?" Alex asked as she turned around to face the blonde again.

The younger woman took a deep breath and prepared herself for the inevitable scolding. "About what happened today-"

"What do I have to do to get you to leave me alone?" Alex groaned exasperatedly.

Piper grinned before shrugging. "Sorry, I just don't see that happening."

The professor rolled her eyes but took a couple of steps further into the lab. "Alright then. What about my recent conversation with a random man who claims to be my father?"

"Wait, do you not think he actually is your father?" the blonde asked curiously because that option hadn't even crossed her mind.

Alex sighed. "Unfortunately, I know he is. I googled him once when I was younger, he was a drummer of some band. I just didn't recognize him immediately, he has changed quite a bit over the years."

"Oh, yeah, okay... Well, I'm probably out of line but I think he was an asshole."

That got a small smile out of the usually stoic woman. "He was. I'm glad I decided not to reach out to him when I was younger. I would've been so disappointed if he was anything like he was today."

"Yeah, understandable. Are you okay, though? You seemed really shaken up", Piper pointed out.

"I'm fine."

"Okay..." the younger woman trailed off before bit her lip and continued. "He mentioned your mother and I don't know what happened, but maybe it would do some good to talk about it?"

Alex tensed and clenched her jaw. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"Just listen to me...", Piper almost pleaded as she sat down on a chair. "I bet you'd rather talk about this with Nicky or someone else closer but I... The thing is that I lost my father when I was around ten. And I've gathered, please correct me if I'm terribly wrong, but you've also lost someone close to you-"

"Where have you gathered that I've lost somebody?" the professor demanded with narrowed eyes.

"Oh... I may have overheard you and Nicky talking yesterday when I came back for my notebook..."

"Of course", Alex groaned as she sat down as well.

"And I obviously don't know if you're talking about it with anyone, but I really think you should. And about what happened with your father today. What I'm trying to say that I might understand what you're going through... and I'm here if you want to talk", Piper ended awkwardly.

The other woman took in Piper's sincere expression and sighed. "Yes, I did lose my mother a few months ago. And then _he_ comes here, to do what exactly? To hit on her daughter and express his condolences about a woman he abandoned the second he found out she was pregnant?"

"I'm really sorry about your mother. And like stated, he was a prick and I'm glad you punched him. Although I wish it wouldn't have gotten you hurt", Piper smiled lightly as she nodded toward Alex's right hand.

"Right, well, it was worth it."

The blonde nodded. "So, I heard that you were doing this project for her... Do you mind me asking why is that? Was this something she was passionate about?"

"No... well, kind of. She was passionate about the environment and she did lots of volunteer work cleaning beaches and trying to keep plastic out of the environment. She was diagnosed with lung cancer almost half a year ago and the doctors suspected it had something to do with how much she was exposed to the chemicals from plastic."

"I'm sorry, that must've been horrible. To both of you."

"Yeah", Alex gave her a watery smile. "The cancer had already spread to other organs, so there were very little what doctors could do."

"I think it's incredible what you're doing with this project. She'd most definitely be proud of you", Piper smiled.

"Thank you. What about your dad? What happened to him?" the raven-haired woman asked, hoping to steer the conversation away from her mom. This was the first time she had actually told someone what had happened. Nicky always knew and she didn't have any other close friends who she would talk with about this.

"He had coronary artery disease and was too stubborn to follow the doctor's instructions. He died of heart failure."

"I'm sorry to hear that. It was probably hard to see him sick as he refused to take care of himself", Alex said empathically.

"Yeah, it was. I was quite young like I said I was ten when he died, and I didn't fully understand what was happening, but I guess I still hate him a little bit because he could have a chance to live if he just had listened to the doctors. And my mom didn't handle his death very well, so she threw herself at work and it was like she forgot she had children to take care of. My big brother mostly looked after me and my younger brother until she pulled herself together."

"That must have been a difficult time. For the whole family."

"Yes, it was", Piper replied as she shook the memories off. "Look, Alex, I know you miss her but throwing yourself into work isn't the right solution. It may temporarily make you feel better, but it doesn't work in the long run! Trust me."

The older woman's eyes flashed, and she straightened herself. Piper could almost feel the walls around Alex coming back and groaned internally.

"If that was all, I'd like to go home. Goodbye", the professor stated as she stood up and left the lab.

"Great", Piper mumbled and dropped her head to rest on the table. "One step forward, two steps back."

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Please review and tell me what you thought. :)**

**\- Iina**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: Hello guys... I'm ashamed to admit I had forgotten this story during all the covid mess. However, I got a comment on this story a few days ago which reminded me that I sometimes used to write fanfiction and motivated to write another chapter to this story (so thanks for that comment). I hope everyone is safe and remember to take care of the people around you! I hope this chapter helps to cheer you up if you are quarantined or otherwise.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"_Mom!" Alex whined as she tried to swat her mom's hand that was ruffling her hair._

_Diane just laughed but took her hand away. "Sorry, kid. What are you working on?"_

"_I'm doing a science project for the competition at school!"_

"_Are you going to win?" Diane asked smiling._

"_You know that I can't know it for certain, mom", Alex rolled her eyes but was also smiling. "That is the plan, though!"_

"_I know. And I bet you're going to win, you're such a smart kid. Don't know who you get that from."_

"_Certainly not my father."_

_Diane's eyes softened. "I'm sorry..."_

"_It's not your fault. And it's probably better with just the two of us anyway", the young girl shrugged._

"_Maybe you're right, kid. You and me, against the world."_

_Alex beamed at her mother and Diane ruffled her hair once more. "Alright, I'm going to make some food, and you... Go save the world, kid."_

Alex gasped and shot up to a sitting position. It took her a couple of seconds to figure out it had been just a dream. She was an adult now, sitting on her bed in her own apartment with tears streaming down her face. She glanced at the clock and groaned when she saw it was only three in the morning. The professor buried her head in her hands before letting out a sigh and got up. It was time to do something useful.

* * *

"Where is Alex?" Polly asked as she paced around the lab.

"I don't know... I can't reach her", Piper groaned as she put her phone on the table after the third call attempt to Alex. It had been three weeks since the incident with Alex's father and they had managed to make multiple different enzymes but so far none of those had worked. After the little heart to heart between Piper and the raven-haired woman, Alex had been distant and the blonde hasn't tried to push her, opting to give the other woman space she obviously desired.

"It's only been twenty minutes... maybe she just got stuck in the traffic", Lorna tried to appease them.

"I bet you that woman has never been late to anything before", Piper mumbled as she glanced worriedly at the door. She knew that people were late all the time for various reasonable reasons, but she was still worried. And it annoyed her because she is not supposed to _care_ this much. But she does, and it's going to come to bite her in the ass sooner or later.

Suddenly the door to the lab opened, and all three women turned to look at Alex who was looking more disheveled than any of them had ever seen. First of all, her hair was a mess. Not in a way that looked like she hadn't brushed it for days, but in a way that seemed like she had run her fingers through it millions of times. Secondly, she was breathing heavily like she had run there which Piper assumed she hadn't done in those four-inch heels of hers. And was that a coffee stain on her dark blue blouse?

"Sorry, I know I'm late. I lost a track of time. But I may have worked out something..." Alex said as she moved further into the lab and dropped the notes she was carrying on the table. "Firstly, any progress?"

"Nope. Nada", Lorna shook her head.

"Great, well, not great, but I may have figured out something. I was thinking that we must have missed something because we have tried pretty much everything with no signs of progress, right?"

"Right..."

"I know what we have missed. The time! I don't know how we could have been so stupid, how _I_ could have been so stupid. It's so simple and yet I didn't think about it until now because we have been focusing on how to get the enzyme working-"

"Alex!" Piper interrupted Alex's rambling. "The point."

"Right, yes. We knew that it was impossible to predict how much the enzyme would accelerate the plastic's own natural decomposition if we managed to change the enzyme structure so it would actually do that. It can take over a _thousand_ years for plastic to decompose. If the enzyme accelerates the decomposition only ten times it would still take a hundred years. Hell, even if the enzyme would quicken the process a hundred times, it would still take _years_ to notice."

"Of course", Polly frowned. "That makes sense. We assumed that the enzyme would accelerate the process much more, but like you said we have no way of knowing."

"So... do you think we actually succeeded? That one of these..." Piper motioned toward the sealed Petri dishes containing pieces of plastic and different adapted enzymes. "Is actually working but just slower than we anticipated?"

"Indeed!" The professor grinned. "And if we can speed up the enzymes' functioning, we can see which one or which ones work and then figure out how to get the enzyme to quicken the decomposition."

"Thank you, Alex. This kind of stroke of wit was exactly what we needed", Piper smiled widely. "Even though you look like you've been thinking about this since five a.m. and pushing forward only by five cups of coffee..."

"Try three a.m. and the coffee cups somewhere closer to ten. I lost count after nine a.m."

The blonde furrowed her eyebrows in concern. "Have you eaten anything today?"

Alex just waved off the other woman's concerns. "What would be the best way to speed up these enzymes' performance?"

"Another enzyme?" Polly suggested.

The raven-haired woman frowned in thought. "Is it even possible? To use an enzyme to accelerate another enzyme's activity?"

"I don't know", Polly admitted. "But I'll research it."

"Right, yes, do that. And I'm going to-"

"You are going to eat", Piper interrupted sternly. "You have been up since three a.m., have eaten nothing, and have drunk way too much coffee. We can't have you fainting just because you're too stubborn to take care of yourself."

Alex glared at the blonde but then sighed in defeat. "Fine. Do you want to stay here to do research or go home? We can compare our ideas tomorrow and decide then what's the best way to go about this. Now when we know what the problem is, it's going to be a hell of a lot easier to try to find a solution."

"I think we should go home", Lorna suggested. "You and everyone else as well can take a break and focus on ourselves a bit and then we regroup tomorrow to see what we have come up with."

The professor grimaced at the word 'break' but nodded nevertheless. "Alright, sounds good to me."

Everyone packed their things and Polly and Lorna left the room, already talking about their ideas to accelerate the reaction.

Piper lingered in the lab and cleared her throat awkwardly, hoping this time things would turn out better. "So... since you're in need of food and I'm also rather hungry myself, do you want to go eat somewhere together? I'm not sure if I trust you to feed yourself if you're alone", she grinned at Alex.

"If your tactic to get a woman on a date is to insult them, I must advise you to change tactics", Alex quipped back but she was sporting a small smirk.

"It's not a date! It's only a dinner between colleagues. Unless if you want it to be a date..." Piper joked with raised eyebrows. Well, mostly joked.

The older woman was quiet for a while and studied Piper curiously. At last, Alex nodded. "Dinner between colleagues sounds nice."

The blonde grinned widely. "Okay then..." she said as she collected the rest of her things. "Shall we?"

Alex nodded. "Yes. Do you have someplace in mind?"

"Well, I thought we could just go to one of the campus diners but if you have something else in mind, that works too."

"I know one diner that is pretty good where we could go. I get my lunch usually there."

"Lead the way."

The two of them walked the short distance to the diner in silence, both deep in thought. Piper was thinking if it would be a good idea to bring up their past or if would only drive the other woman away again. Alex in turn was wondering why the hell the blonde was this persistent. Surely there were tons of other people Piper should rather spend her time with. Someone who actually deserved it.

As they stepped into the diner and sat down in an available booth, Alex groaned. "What I wouldn't give for another cup of coffee."

"Yeah, I think you've had enough for today. Actually, I think you've had enough for the rest of the week", Piper chuckled as she took a menu from the waitress who had come to them.

"Good afternoon, would you like something to drink?"

"I'll take just water, thank you", Alex said as she also took the offered menu.

"Yeah, me too."

The waitress nodded. "Do you need some time to decide what you'd like to order?"

"I'm ready if you are", Alex shrugged as she looked at Piper questioningly.

The blonde quickly looked through the menu quickly before nodding. "Yeah, I'll take the salmon pasta, thanks."

"And I'd like a chicken salad."

The waitress wrote down their orders before promising to bring the water soon.

The two of them were silent for a while before Alex sighed. "Why are you doing this?"

"Uh... because you have a habit of throwing yourself into work and not taking care of yourself?"

"No, I mean... I've been cold toward you since the beginning. Why are you still being friendly?"

Piper contemplated her answer for a while. "Because... The night we met, I thought there was something between us. I mean something more than just lust. And it hasn't gone anywhere. I know you've been through a lot lately and I'm not trying to push myself onto you but I'm hoping that we could be friends or something."

"I'm a different person than I was back then."

"I don't think you are. You are just more guarded now", the blonde said before smiling to the waitress who had brought them the water. "But either way, I'd like to get to know you better."

"There is a reason why I've been trying to keep you at arm's length. I'm not in a very good place in my life at the moment if you hadn't noticed. I'm only going to disappoint you if we try to form some kind of relationship, friendship or otherwise", Alex tried to make Piper understand as she took a sip of her water.

"You're being too hard on yourself. I know you're grieving and I'm not expecting anything from you, I just want to be there for you!"

"I don't even know what that means. I don't do friends... I'm not a people person. Nicky is the only person in my life who I care about, what does that tell you about me?"

"It tells me that you could use a couple of more friends. And I care about you, so I want to be your friend."

Alex groaned. "And I wish you didn't. Everything would be simpler if you just left me alone."

"Probably", Piper shrugged. "But where is the fun in that?"

"There is no way to get you to leave me alone, is there?"

"Nope."

The professor narrowed her eyes. "Why can't you understand that you shouldn't waste your time with me?"

"And who I should be 'wasting' my time with then?"

"Someone who isn't such a mess?"

"Is that why you never called me? Because you thought I deserved better?" Piper inquired, she needed to know. This was the question she had wondered the most.

"No. I would have called you, I definitely would have if I wasn't informed that particular morning that my mother had cancer. I've kept myself busy ever since and a relationship was the last thing in my mind", Alex sighed as she brought her fingers to massage her temples. Now that she had time to focus on herself, she could feel a splitting headache starting to form.

The blonde frowned sympathetically. "Oh... I'm sorry."

"Me too. I really think there could have been something between us back then because I felt the connection too, and to be honest I still do. But as I said, I've changed and I'm definitely not ready to handle a relationship right now, especially one that could jeopardize the project", Alex sighed before turned to thank the waiter who had just brought their food.

Piper thanked the waiter as well before turned her attention back to the older woman who was already digging into her salad. "I get that but as I said, I just want to be there for you. We can totally forget relationships right now and just focus on the project. You need time to heal and probably think some things through and maybe when you feel ready, we can revisit the dating thing. I just hope you could let me be your friend in the meantime?" the blonde said hopefully. "And if you don't want a relationship after that, that's fine too. I'm perfectly happy with only being friends too."

The professor looked up from her food and eyed the woman across her curiously. Did that great and patient people even exist? "I... I'd like that, but I still feel that I'm only going to let you down. Friendship goes both ways and I doubt I would be a very good friend."

"The fact that you're even worried about that tells me otherwise."

Alex gave her a small smile and both of them went back to their food. They spend the rest of the lunch chatting about ordinary things and briefly talking about the project and how they would proceed now.

When they were done, they paid for their own meals before leaving the diner. Both women hesitated when they were supposed to go different ways and Alex was the first one to say something.

"I know I've been quite difficult to deal with the whole time but I really appreciate you trying to reach out and not letting anything affect our working relationship. And I'll try not to be so harsh in the future."

"I know", Piper smiled. "And even if you entered this project wanting to keep a completely professional relationship with everyone, we care about you. We all do because you're a vital part of this team and even though you're kind of a bitch sometimes, you still make everyone feel included and don't act superior to us even though you totally are with your Ph.D. and position as a professor."

The raven-haired woman rolled her eyes at the word 'bitch' but a small involuntary smile spread on her face. "Well, to be honest, I've come to care about you all as well."

"I guessed as well. Seems like Nicky was right when she told us you were actually a teddy bear."

Alex scoffed. "Let's not get carried away."

"Okay, not ready to be called a teddy bear, noted", Piper grinned widely.

The professor shook her head amusedly. "Goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow"

"Yeah, sure! Try to get some sleep tonight, okay?"

"I will. And it was nice eating together like this, I'd like to do it again sometime."

"Me too", the blonde smiled softly.

"Okay, bye then", Alex grinned before turning to walk to her car.

"Bye!"

* * *

Alex was smiling the whole time she was driving to her apartment but couldn't bother to try to stop it. She was feeling lighter than she had for a long time even though the lack of sleep was catching up with her and the headache had lessened only slightly after lunch.

Maybe she wrong about trying to stay away from the other woman if spending time with Piper made her feel that good. Maybe she should try to be more outgoing and focus more on enjoying her life. She knows that's what her mom would have wanted as well, so maybe after this project, she'd try to change her ways.

The professor was still smiling and deep in thought as she opened the door to her apartment and wasn't at all ready for the voice calling out "Finally you're home" from her kitchen.

Alex jumped with fright and dropped her keys before turning to look at the source of her scare who was looking at her amusedly from the kitchen counter as she sipped beer.

"Jesus Christ Nicky, I gave you that key for emergencies, not so you could sneak in and scare me half to death."

"But I love catching you off guard", the wild-haired woman grinned. "Not but seriously, Lorna said you were a bit off today, coming in late and all that."

"Glad to know my team is reporting to you about my wellbeing", Alex said as she bent down to pick her keys and put them in the bowl on the counter.

"She was just a bit worried, so it came up when we talked. I wanted to come to check on you but imagine my surprise when you apparently listened to them and went to eat."

"You couldn't have called? And yes, Piper was rather adamant that I should eat and we went to get lunch together."

Nicky raised her eyebrows. "Piper, huh? Is she the reason you were smiling like a lovesick puppy when you walked in? By the way, your phone is off, must be out of battery."

"I was not smiling like a lovesick puppy", Alex scoffed as she looked for her phone in her purse and indeed noticed it had died at some point.

"You totally were! And since when miss "I'm not here to make friends" is eating lunch together with a colleague?"

"Since we both were hungry and going to eat at the same time", the raven-haired woman rolled her eyes. "And showing up unannounced is one thing but also drinking my beers? Where are your manners?"

"Don't change the subject. Are you seriously trying to say that there is nothing between you and Piper? Everyone can see the chemistry from miles away."

Alex sighed as she went to find some painkillers. She wasn't very eager to get into her past with Piper when she knew Nicky wouldn't leave it alone. "Look, Piper is for some reason really persistent on being my friend and there is something about her... I actually want to be her friend as well. So that's what we are, friends."

"Friends... So that's what they are calling it nowadays", the other woman sniggered.

Alex just sent her friend a glare before downing the pills with a glass of water.

"Okay, okay, I get it, just _friends_. But seriously though, I'm glad because I know making friends isn't exactly one of your life goals. However, I'm still willing to bet you're going to bang at some point."

The professor rolled her eyes but couldn't help a small secret smirk she hid behind her glass as her mind wandered back to the shared night with the blonde. It truly had been a spectacular night and Alex definitely wouldn't mind it happening again if she ever worked out her problems.

"You totally want to bang her!" Nicky accused laughing.

"What I may or may not want is irrelevant when there are other, much bigger things at stake."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, the project comes first. But I think I will still create a group chat without you two where we can place bets and whine how you should screw already."

* * *

**Thank you for reading! Please drop a comment if you liked it and I'm sorry about all the mistakes since I've not written in a long time. Keep safe everyone!**

**\- Iina**


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